Sylva NC

Wheel-thrown white clay, fine clay slip and glaze applied, fired to 1800 degrees, cooled and horsehaired and cleaned for finish.

I enjoy being a studio potter, participating in art festivals, and wholesaling pottery to other galleries around the country. I create a wide range of work from functional and fumed pots to traditional Raku and Horsehair pottery. My drive is to create pots that reflect natural scenes in an abstract and contemporary way that appeal to the senses of the viewer. My work is primarily low-fire with horsehair, fumed, black on black and raku finishing techniques.

Horsehair is a low-fire technique where pots are fired to 1610 degrees after a terra-sigillata slip has been brushed onto them. The kiln is then shut off and when it cools to 900 degrees the pots are pulled one by one quickly from the kiln. The horsehair is placed on the pot leaving its carbon mark as it burns. Sometimes feathers and sugar are used to create different images on the pieces. Anything organic will leave its carbon mark on the the pots. The potter can create smoke lines, different shades of black and gray, and different patterns, all by where and how the horsehair is placed on the pots making each piece truly one of a kind!

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